"Thanks so much for meeting me Lou" Noah tells him smiling as Louis sits down in their private booth up the back of the cafe.

"No problem, thanks for asking me to lunch" Louis says as he gets comfortable.

The waitress comes over and they order some food, Louis going with a soda and toasted sandwich, he's really not hungry and still full from the breakfast Harry and Scott made him.

"I hope you weren't to weirded out about me asking you to lunch" Noah says.

"No not at all, it was nice of you to ask" Louis says.

"I only recently moved to London about 8 months ago, I haven't really had the chance to meet any new friends and you seemed really nice and I thought we got along pretty well" Noah says.

"Me neither and I've lived here two years" Louis chuckles and Noah follows suit.

"It would be nice to have a friend actually" Louis says and Noah can hear the vulnerability in his voice.

"One you work with too?" Noah asks smiling wide and Louis can't help but laugh which has Noah smiling wider.

Noah does notice the slight wince from Louis but doesn't mention it, the new bruise on his upper eye is new too but Noah won't bring it up, he's only just met Louis and doesn't want to put him on the spot.

"I really don't know what to do about the position, HS & Wolf has always been my dream company to work for, but I just can't bring myself to accept" Louis says.

The waitress brings their meals over and Noah digs into his pasta.

"Tell me what's bothering you about it, maybe I can help" Noah says.

Louis looks to Noah, he really wouldn't mind another opinion and for some reason he does trust Noah. He takes a long sip of his soda and sighs.

"I told Harry and Scott that HS & wolf was my dream position not knowing they owned the company. Long story short, we slept together, might be becoming more serious and now that I know who they are I feel like such an idiot for not knowing, I think they only want me because they feel sorry for me and want to do me a favour because I'm sleeping with them" Louis admits.

Noah looks at him for a long few seconds, his fork halfway to his mouth with pasta hanging off it. Louis blushes and picks at his toasted sandwich.

"Well, firstly, I totally knew they were crushing on you" Noah chuckles and Louis blushes even further.

"Secondly, Louis, Scott and Harry are insanely talented and good at their jobs, their company is unmatched. They don't just hire people because they feel sorry for them or because they find them attractive and want to sleep with them. I can one hundred percent assure you on that" Noah tells him.

"I would really love to believe you" Louis says.

"I've known Harry and Scott for three years now, I worked in the New York office for two of those years, before they moved me over to London to be their direct PA. I know them, and I can tell you now, they've never spoken about someone like they speak about you. You have talent Louis, big talent and you're wasted at a company that doesn't appreciate or support that. Even if Harry and Scott wanting to start a relationship with you motivated them to look at your designs, doesn't mean they don't think you're talented. They wouldn't have gotten you to interview if they didn't think your work was impressive" Noah tells him.

"I don't want special treatment or them to think that they need to give it to me" Louis says.

"Even if you ended up marrying Harry and Scott Lou, I promise you no one would think they hired you because you're in a relationship with them, your designs speak for themselves and what I saw of your portfolio, imagine if you had the chance to actually create and design for our clients, you'd make partner in a year" Noah says and he's serious.

Louis blushes, takes a bite of his sandwich and mulls over Noah's words.

"I'll Think about it" Louis smiles and Noah takes that as a win.

"Do you like working for Smith and Leon at all? Is there anything good about that company?" Noah asks

He sees Louis withdraw and Noah doesn't like it one bit.

"To be honest, I hate it, but it's the only place that would accept me after university. Most companies don't take anyone straight out of university, I was lucky to get the job with them" Louis admits.

"They don't have the best reputation in the industry, most clients and companies steer clear and don't like working with them. Dan is an arsehole" Noah says

"I'll say, he and his right hand man Jax make my life hell" Louis says.

"Harry and Scott are trying to figure out how they won that tender" Noah says.

"I wouldn't know, they don't let me do anything or talk to me about that stuff, I usually sit in the corner and work on my own stuff. I do draw for their clients, I just never submit my work to them because I know they will laugh at me, they found my draft of the inlet wharf tender and told me I would never have any talent and laughed me out of the office, said I need to go back to making coffee" Louis says defeated.

"They sound like absolute jerks Louis, why do you put up with them treating you like that" Noah asks kindly.

"Honestly Noah, because I don't deserve to be treated any other way, I really believe I was meant to work there because that's all I'm worthy of" Louis says sadly

In that moment Noah vows to be a great friend to Louis and to show him he deserves better and to be treated better, Noah doesn't know Louis past, but understands there's a sadness there, and he makes sure to be kind to Louis and protect him from people like Dan.

They talk some more, getting to know each other and when their lunch hour is up Noah walks Louis back to the office.

"Thanks so much for meeting me Lou" Noah says.

"It was great to catch up, maybe next time you can come to mine and we can play FIFA and have pizza" Louis says.

"I'd like that, I've got your number and you have mine, text anytime" Noah says.

Louis nods with a smile, they hug goodbye and Louis walks into work feeling a lot better and knowing he will be giving his notice to Dan at the end of the week and accepting the job offer with Harry and Scott.